Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1887-07-09
A LEAK IN A "DOBY."
WHAT TO DO WHEN RAIN COMES
THROUGH THE CEILING.

When the roof Of your "doby'' leaks In
IN this territory the native can always
remedy the trouble with n bent pin, ten
feet OF twine and q bit of a broom handle.
If the ceiling Of any room becomes dis
colored with smoke or otherwise loses the
white purity which must always distin-
guish the interior Of "a room for rent"
the same native has a remedy which is rs
effective as It is novel. He takes down
the ceiling, puts it in the washtub, and
after thoroughly cleansing it restores it to
Its proper position. AS leaks in roofs
necessarily have a close connection with
room ceilings, l simultaneously gained my
knowledge of both occult remedies during
a rain storm the other night.
When l came here l found that nine
tenths OF the population lived in rented
rooms, and that ] must do likewise, I'M
less l wanted to pay $3.50 per week for
board. So / hired a spotlessly white room
In a DOLBY and went to bed in one corner
OF 1t, without thinking for m instant that
/ would be inconvenienced by the heavy
rain storm prevailing. changed my
mind about midnight, when II stream Of
water worked its way through the mud
roof and dropped squarely down on my
head as lay sleeping in bed. / got up ut
once n prosecuted a search for a match,
while another stream played on my back.
] lighted my lamp, and then saw that
about a dozen streams were coming
through the ceiling. AS my room opened
on the road, after the manner Of oil Mexi-
can dobies, / was compelled to dress my
self, fish an umbrella out Of my trunk
n go ont into the storm TO get into the
next room, where my aged and Celtic
landlady reposed.
"An' has that roof bruk loose agini
Well, now, jest wait a brace o. minnits
till ! get some clothes on, an III COON TO
ye," she said, as she opened her door In
response TO my exasperated knocks. In
four minutes she emerged into the storm,
carrying two lamps, and rushed into my
room. First she lighted all the lamps
and put them around the room 80 she
could see well to do the work ahead. A
glance at the scene Of action, n vigorous
oath and a plunge at the bed followed in
quick succession. She put the foot tub to
catch the stream OF water that was wet
ting the bed clothing, glared Mt me re-
~proachfully and then went to work.
From the bottom Of the washstand she
brought forth a string and about three
feet OF an old broom handle. The articles,
1t seems, are always kept ready for use in
every DOLBY house in New Mexico. Drag
ging the table to the center of the room
my landlady put a chair on 1t and said
with business like sharpness:
Now, young man, s'pose you Jest turn
your back around entoirely."
/ faced about and the lady scrambled to
the table and thence 70 the chair, comfort
ably assured that / had not caught n
uliy m roa nf Nov uanaroh1. oDl1as yIyIox r
looked slyly over my shoulder she was
bending a pin at right angles between her
teeth. Then she tied the string to the pin
and reached up to the ceiling and stuck tho
pin in. / was startled to sec the ceiling
bulge downward, and then for the first
time perceived that, instead OF being white
plaster as | had supposed, II was Of white
muslin. Having attached the pin 80 that
1t would not slip, the landlady leaped
down with the other end of the string in
her hand. To this end she fastened tho
piece OF broom handle, and left it swaying
gently before my eyes.
Needless OF my questions, she seized q
broom and went around the room gazing
critically Mt the ceiling. Here and there
were little blister like protuberances,
where the water had accumulated in little
pockets. Each OF these the woman pushed
upward until the water ran toward the
lower level around the point where the pin
penetrated the muslin ceiling. The weight
OF the wooden stick on the end of the
string, OF course, pulled the muslin down
ward, making n hollow over the center Of
the room large enough to accommodate all
the little pockets. When the water had
thus been accumulated in the central
reservoir | saw n small stream flowing
from the end OF the swaytng broom stick.
A the water will run down to the pin
now, me dear, and thin down the string
to the broom handle and thin down the
broom handle to this bucket, and thin
you'll hav no more trouble eff you'll list
keep away entoirely from against the
bucket" announced the woman, oracu-
larly.
1t was even 50. When she had put dry
clothing or my bed and left me l turned
in again n went to sleep in comfort
under a roof that was full of holes. In
the morning the bucket placed just under
the pendant broom was full OF water,
but the room was thoroughly dry.
BY daybreak il cleared up and the
woman's man was shoveling an extra
cart load of earth on the roof Of my room.
"Now, Peter" / heard her call to him,
'jist take and SOW half q bushel o. grass
seed there, so that we will have a fresh
sod before the neXt rain comes"
Peter sowed the grass seed while Peters
wife took down the muslin which had
been pasted around the edges of the cell.
ing. She took it away and washed it,
and bringing it back soaking wet, pasted
and tackled It into position. When I
asked why it was not dried before being
put up, she said that ii was desirable to
have it wet, so that when IL dried the
shrinkage would make IL taut. An
enormous fire dried my ceiling until It
was as white and smooth a. the plaster Of
an eastern domicile.
The landlady put away the pin and
string and bit Of broom handle in the
bottom Of my washstand and said respect
fully:
Nov, then, young man, II things
spring a leak agin you tend to 'em your
self an don't come arter me. I alters
show strangers how to stop a leak once,
but / charges extra IL they comes arter
me twict."
In two weeks there was an elegant
green sward on my roof. The roots of the
rank grass form such a compact network
that 1t takes a very heavy storm to wash
away enough earth to admit water into
the room underneath. For this reason I
have escaped a second ducking and have
had no occasion to try my prentice hand
with the pin and string.-Santa Fee Cor.
New York Sun.